Effects of Waxing Materials, Storage Conditions on Protein, Sugar and ash Contents of Citrus Fruits Stored at Room and Refrigerated Temperatures

A research was carried out on five different species of citrus fruits namely: Citrus paradise (grapefruit); C aurantium (sour orange); C auratifolia (lime); C reticulate (tangerine) and C sinensis (sweet orange). The fruits were immersed in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jelly and wrapped with aluminium foil and stored both at room and refrigerated temperatures for a period of 12 weeks.Fruits not treated and stored at room temperature served as control.The fruits that were immersed in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jelly had the lowest changes in protein and sugar contents.This was followed by fruits immersed in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jelly and put in the refrigerator without wrapping with aluminium foil.And the fruits immersed in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jelly and wrapped with aluminium foil and stored at room temperature.In terms of performance all the fruits given the above treatment were better when compared to the control stored at room temperature with no treatment applied Irrespective of the kind of treatment applied ,sweet orange had the highest protein contents followed by tangerine, grapefruit, lime and sour orange. As for the sugar contents, sweet orange also had the highest contents followed by tangerine,grapefruit, sour orange and lime in that order.